Disposable diaper

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a disposable diaper having a soft, fluid absorbing body or pad to be placed between the baby&#39;&#39;s legs. The diaper is mainly characterized in that one of the ends of the absorbing body has a cross portion widening said end and intended to be placed on the front of the baby above the legs and being stable in form when either wet or dry. In addition, the diaper has a greater absorption capacity in the critical front part, thus avoiding leakage. There is a liquid impervious layer, possibly lined with e.g., a non-woven textile, so that the wet surface area of the diaper in contact with the baby&#39;&#39;s skin will be decreased.

United States Patent [191 Widlund 1 Oct. 30, 1973 DISPOSABLE DIAPER [75] Inventor: Leif Urban Roland Widlund,

Molndal, Sweden [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 10, 1970 Sweden 1680/70 [52] US. Cl. 128/287 [51] Int. Cl A4lb 13/02 [58] Field of Search 128/284, 287

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,444,859 5/1969 Kalwaites 128/284 3,639,199 2/1972 Brandts et al... 128/284 2,696,819 12/1954 Lovekin.. 128/284 3,030,956 4/1962 Nichols... 128/284 3,063,452 11/1962 Del Guercio.. 128/284 3,072,123 l/1963 Davis 128/287 3,417,751 12/1968 Murdoch 128/287 3,559,648 2/1971 Mason 128/287 3,587,579 6/1971 Sabee 128/287 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,224,201 6/1960 France 128/284 Primary ExaminerCharles F. Rosenbaum AttorneyYoung and Thompson [57] ABSTRACT The present invention relates to a disposable diaper having a soft, fluid absorbing body or pad to be placed between the baby's legs. The diaper is mainly characterized in that one of the ends of the absorbing body has a cross portion widening said end and intended to be placed on the front of the baby above the legs and being stable in form when either wet or dry. In addition, the diaper has a greater absorption capacity in the critical front part, thus avoiding leakage. There is a liquid impervious layer, possibly lined with e.g., a non-woven textile, so that the wet surface area of the diaper in contact with the babys skin will be decreased.

7 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure PAIENTEU U81 3 0 i873 IN V EN TOR.

DISPOSABLE DIAPER Many different types of disposable diapers are known. Some consist of an extended, lmost square absorption body with recessed edges for the childs legs and with about 30 to 45 cm long sides. They are designed to be held in place around the lower part of the childs trunk by safety pins, tape or other fastening means, without the help of a diaper cover or other such aids since the outside of their absorption bodies can be provided with a fluid impervious layer. With the use of such diapers, a large portion of the childs body will be wrapped up in soaked material. This is obviously disadvantageous since the fluid is mainly the urine excreted by the child.

In order to remove said disadvantage, another design for so-called disposable diapers has been developed. This embodiment consists, in principle, of a soft, rectangular concentrated wet body 30 to 40 cm long and to 13 cm wide and having an even thickness of one or a couple of cm. This design is intended to be used together with a diaper cover in the form of a pant, triangular diaper-holder or the like, whereby the cover is secured around the pertinent part of the childs body and holds the diaper in place. In a number of known cases, this type of diaper is securely united with the diaper cover which, however, is always considerably larger than the daiper itself. It is true that known diapers consisting of a concentrated wet body are capable to a great degree of overcoming the drawback that diapers having a wider absorption body form, when used, an extensive wet wrapping around the child. However, said known diapers have the disadvantage of not being able to conform satisfactorily to the body shape and movements of the child. This results in a displacement of the diapers downwards and backwards around the lower part of the childs body because of the motions of the child. Thus, the absorption material bunches up on the back side of the baby in the area of the anus. This is particularly unfortunate since the urine excretion is always forwards, especially with boys but also with girls. Therefore, there is often leakage at the inadequate front parts of the diaper next to the stomach while the rear parts of the diaper are not at all utilized for absorption.

None of the known diapers elminates said downward, backward displacement or sliding so that the absorption material can be fully'utili'zed to absorb the fluid excreted. In order to counter this backward displacement, the method attempted to date has instead been to make use of diaper covers, e.g., unsymmetrical baby pants or triangular diaper-holders. None of these attempts has proved to be completely satisfactory. On the contrary, this backward displacement of the diaper or 1 absorption body has recently been accentuated because of demands by hygienists to further decrease the contact area between the skin and the wet absorption body, respectively the plastic diaper cover.

Therefore, the object-of the prevent invention is to remove the above noted drawbacks and provide a disposable diaper having a soft, fluid absorbing body or pad, designed to be placed between the legs of the baby. Besides minimizing the area of contact with the skin of the child and being capable of providing, under all conditions, absorption where it rests against the front of the babys body thereby avoiding leakage from the front, the new diaper is also capable of remaining in the proper position on the baby after it has been put A diaper according to the invention and providing the advantages set out above is chiefly characterized in that the fluid absorbing body or pad in the area of one of its ends has a cross portion widening said end and intended to be placed on the front of the baby above the childs legs and which is stable in form when either wet or dry. I

In order to improve the fluid absorbing capacity of and also contribute to an increase in the form holding ability of the cross portion of the body or pad, this portion can be made thicker than the other parts of the body or pad. It is also particularly advantageous from the stability point of view to have an elastic insert in the absorption material within the corss portion of the body, e.g., in the form of a foam plastic filler. To further improve the form stability, the absorption material can be fixed, at least in the cross portion, by a binder, e.g., acryl.

In order to give the body or pad the required strength in the more greatly stressed area between the cross portion and the narrower parts, it may be preferable to place a strengthening insert in the body, at least in this transition area.

The diaper can be made to conform nicely to the childs body if the strengthening insert is resilient and consists of e.g., a plastic mesh.

The invention will be further described below with reference to the enclosed drawing which is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment in which a diaper made according to the invention consists of a fluid absorbing body in form of a T. This diaper is designed to be used together with a diaper cover such as a pant, a diaper holder or the like. The fluid absorbing body or pad is soft and includes a conventional absorption material l, e.g., defibred cellulose enclosed in a similarly conventional wrapping 2 of e.g., water transmitting, non-woven fibrous material.

When such a diaper is put on a child, the wider part 3 of the diaper, i.e., that part which forms the crown in the T-shape, is placed on the front of the baby above the legs. The narrower part 4, i.e., that part which forms the stem in the T-shape, is placed between and behind the babys legs. Because the wider part 3 according-to the invention is stable in form in both wet and dry states, the diaper will effectively counteract said sliding or displacement due to its geometric shape and its form stability. The diaper will instead retain its correct position against the babys body when in use.

Since the wider part of the diaperis put on the frontof the baby above the legs, a greater part of the absorption material will be advantageously situated relatve to the child's urethra. Moreover, this advantage can be utilized to an even greater degree by making the wider diaper part 3 thicker than the narrow part 4 between the babys legs. In the example shown here, the form stability of the diaper is especially good, partly because the absorption material in the wider part 3 is secured by a binder, e.g, acryl, and partly because an elastic insert in the form of a plastic mesh 5 is placed inside said absorption material 1 within said wider part 3. In addition to a resilient plastic mesh, this insert can consist of e.g., foam plastic or another elastic material. In order to strengthen the greatly stressed, with use, transition area between the diaper parts 3 and 4, the plastic mesh Sis so shaped that it extends into the absorption material of the narrower diaper part with a terminating portion 6 originating from its main part in the diaper part 3. This portion 6 also serves as a type of reinforcement for said transition area.

To further decrease the wet surface area and leakage risks at the wider part or cross portion of the diaper, i.e., that part of the diaper having the greatest fluid absorbing capacity, a liquid impervious layer of e.g., plastic, possibly lined with a non-woven textile or the like for lessening the area of the plastic surface next to the skin, can be arranged to partially cover this portion of the diaper, at least on that side of the diaper which is intended to be in contact with the babys skin.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments described here. It can be modified in numerous ways within the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. A disposable diaper having a soft fluid-absorbing body or pad to be placed between the childs legs, characterized in that the area at one end of said body or pad has a cross portion widening said end and intended to be placed on the front of the child above the legs, means to stabilize said cross portion in form in both a wet and a dry state, said stabilizing means being disposd internally of said diaper and extending both in said cross portion and in the portion to be placed between the childs legs, and a cover encasing said body or pad, said cover being liquid-pervious over at least a portion of the side of the diaper that is against the child.

2. A diaper according to claim 1, characterized in that the cross portion of the absorbing body is thicker than its other portions.

3. A diaper according to claim 1 characterized in that said means comprises an elastic insert in the absorption material, e.g., in the form of a foam plastic tiller.

4. A diaper according to claim 1, characterized in that said means comprises a binder, e.g. acryl.

5. A diaper according to claim 1, characterized in that the absorbing body compriss a strengthening insert, at least within the transition portion between the cross portion and the narrower parts.

6. A diaper according to claim 5, characterized in that the strengthening insert is resilient and consists of e.g., a plastic mesh.

7. A diaper according to claim 1, characterized in that the side of the cross portion of the absorbing body in contact with the childs skin when used is partially covered by a liquid impervious layer of e.g., plastic,

possibly lined with a non-woven textile or the like. 

1. A disposable diaper having a soft fluid-absorbing body or pad to be placed between the child'' s legs, characterized in that the area at one end of said body or pad has a cross portion widening said end and intended to be placed on the front of the child above the legs, means to stabilize said cross portion in form in both a wet and a dry state, said stabilizing means being disposd internally of said diaper and extending both in said cross portion and in the portion to be placed between the child''s legs, and a cover encasing said body or pad, said cover being liquidpervious over at least a portion of the side of the diaper that is against the child.
 2. A diaper according to claim 1, characterized in that the cross portion of the absorbing body is thicker than its other portions.
 3. A diaper according to claim 1, characterized in that said means comprises an elastic insert in the absorption material, e.g., in the form of a foam plastic filler.
 4. A diaper according to claim 1, characterized in that said means comprises a binder, e.g., acryl.
 5. A diaper according to claim 1, characterized in that the absorbing body compriss a strengthening insert, at least within the transition portion between the cross portion and the narrower parts.
 6. A diaper according to claim 5, characterized in that the strengthening insert is resilient and consists of e.g., a plastic mesh.
 7. A diaper according to claim 1, characterized in that the side of the cross portion of the absorbing body in contact with the child''s skin when used is partially covered by a liquid impervious layer of e.g., plastic, possibly lined with a non-woven textile or the like. 